SPOTLIGHT: ‘This Love Story Will Self-Destruct’ by Leslie Cohen

Not all romances are love at first sight, sometimes it happens over years. This Love Story Will Self-Destruct by Leslie Cohen is must read for romantics!

Courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Sometimes the person you’re meant to fall in love with comes into your life, then exits, then swings back through again. This Love Story Will Self-Destruct by Leslie Cohen is a romance about second chances and how friendship can build into love…it just might need some time!

We’re very excited for this debut romance and we think you will be, too! Read the excerpt below then one-click this one or add it to your TBR!

Part of me wanted to drive him a little crazy, to see how far I could push before sending him screaming for the hills. Only this was New York City, so by “hills” I mean that minuscule square of green shrubbery outside your apartment building that passes for a front yard. Was I innocent? Not entirely. But let us not judge hastily the actions of the young for fear of neglecting the importance of the journey, said forty thousand fortune cookies, and forty thousand fortune cookies cannot be wrong.

I still pass them by sometimes: the streets, apartment buildings, bars, and restaurants, all a part of this story. And, while they are unremarkable to most, they possess the unique ability to stop me dead in my tracks. I think to myself, somewhat irrationally, What is going on here? I get philosophical, and yes, a tad self-centered. Does an apartment still exist once you no longer live there? Why does a restaurant continue to operate once you’ve paid the bill and walked away, the door swishing closed in your wake? I can’t fully acknowledge that the place has moved on. Without me.

A part of this story will always remain in those places, as if stranded in time. I like to revisit some of them and enjoy the nostalgia. The memories are still so vivid. Others are best left alone, to fade over time. Looking back, I can see how those places were leading us somewhere. We were drawing lines from a series of scattered dots, hoping to see a picture emerge. It took time to put it together. The dots existed all over the city—and not in a way that made any sense or always felt good. But we should have known. And whenever I find myself passing one of these places, I can’t help but think, What took us so long?

BEN

“What took us so long?” Did she really just say that? I’ll tell you what took us so long. The ratio of irrational to rational thoughts inside her head was about twenty to one. That was her first mistake (there were others). To get from point A to point B, most people take a straight line. Not Eve. She zigzags; takes several steps backward; loops around; launches into deep contemplation at every turn, twist, and fork in the road; circles; hovers; eventually lands. And I could have walked away from the whole mess. I could have said, Good luck to you, Eve. See you in ten years, when you finally decide what you want. But I didn’t. Because the thing about Eve is, when she does land, she sticks that landing something hard, and suddenly, walking away is the very last thought on your mind.